Despite continuing military actions in certain regions of Ukraine, local steel producers are aiming to slowly resume operations. Following the announcement regarding the resumption of operations at its blast furnace No. 6 due on April 11, Ukraine’s ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih expects to restart its blast furnace No. 8 on May 2, according to company CEO Mauro Longobardo.
“We are planning to resume the work of blast furnace No. 6 in the coming days. Raw material charging, blowing-in and the production of the first pig iron is a process which will become historical, because we will be doing it during the war,” the AMKR CEO said in the official statement.
In addition, the company expects the capacity utilization rate of its mining division to reach 100 percent by the end of April and to have an opportunity to export iron ore concentrate by May 10. Still, the whole process will largely depend on the military situation and on the restructuring of the logistic chains for raw material supply and product shipments. In March this year, AMKR shipped 320,000 mt of concentrate to its customers.